Memoirs on Pauperism and Other Writings

Poverty, Public Welfare, and Inequality

Alexis de Tocqueville, Christine Dunn Henderson, Christine Dunn Henderson

• Publisher: University of Notre Dame Press
• Year: 2021
• ISBN:
  9780268109066
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: Political History & Theory
• Index: Politics & International Relations

The collection includes new translations of Tocqueville's works, including the first English translation of his Second Memoir, the original Memoir, a letter fragment considering pauperism in Normandy, and the ''Pauperism in America'' index to the Penitentiary Report.

Alexis de Tocqueville was one of the most important thinkers of the nineteenth century, and his thought continues to influence contemporary political and social discourse. In Memoirs on Pauperism and Other Writings, Christine Dunn Henderson brings all of Tocqueville's writings on poverty together for the first time: a new translation of his original Memoir and the first English translation of his unfinished Second Memoir, as well as his letter considering pauperism in Normandy and the ''Pauperism in America'' appendix to his Penitentiary Report. By uniting these texts in a single volume, Henderson makes possible a deeper exploration of Tocqueville's thought as it pertains to questions of inequality and public assistance. As Henderson shows in her introduction to this collection, Tocqueville provides no easy blueprint for fixing these problems, which remain pressing today. Still, Tocqueville's writings speak eloquently about these issues, and his own unsuccessful struggle to find solutions remains both a spur to creative thinking today and a caution against attempting to find simplistic remedies.

Memoirs on Pauperism and Other Writings allows us to study his sustained thought on pauperism, poverty assistance, governmental assistance programs, and social inequality in a new and deeper way. The insights in these works are important not only for what they tell us about Tocqueville but also for how they help us to think about contemporary social challenges. This collection will be essential not only to students and scholars of Tocqueville's thought, nineteenth-century France, and political economy, but also to all those interested in the issues of public assistance, associative life, voluntary associations, and charities.

INDEX

agriculture

colonies supporting poor in America, xxvii, 56, 59n29, 64n7 (“Pauperism in America”)

consolidation of farming in England, 14, 30–31

consolidation of farming in Scotland, 30

during feudalism, 5, 7

impact of industrialism on, xvi, 7–8, 9, 13–14, 30–31

job insecurities and risks in, xxvi, 30

and land ownership in France, xxvi–xxvii, 30

solutions to pauperism within, xxvi–xxvii, 29–32, 41–42

statistics in England, 14

in Tocqueville’s stages of societal development, 3–8

See also land ownership

aid. See private charity; public charity

almshouses, 43–44, 51, 63n17, 64n4 (“Pauperism in America”)

aristocracy

form of, seen in industrialism, 33

hierarchical relationships within, xv, 4–7, 57n7

nonessential goods of, xv–xvi, 6–7

provision of charity by, xxx

in Tocqueville’s societal development stages, 4–7

associations. See voluntary associations

Balbi, Albiano, 2, 60n4

Beaumont, Gustave de, xii

begging, 10, 50, 64n3, 64n5 (“Letter on Pauperism in Normandy”)

bonds (savings), 38–39

bread subsidies, xiv

Burke, Edmund

“Thoughts and Details on Scarcity,” 57n4

Catholic Church, 63n16

centralization

in America, 55na

economic dangers of, 39–40

in public charity, xxii

and savings banks, 39–40

tendencies toward, in democracies, xxix

Tocqueville’s opposition to, xxii, xxviii–xxix, 58n19

See also government

children

and illegitimacy concerns, xxi–xxii, 20, 24–25

schools for, xxv, xxxi, 26, 58n25

subsidies for, xiv, 24–25

Christianity, 12

Church of England, xiii, 12–13

comforts

during feudalism, 6–7, 8

impact of industrialism on, 8–9

in psychology of desire, xvii–xviii

See also desires

Couppey, Joseph Laurent, 5, 60n10

Creuse department (France), 2, 60n5

criminality

impact of voluntary associations on, 49–50

links between pauperism and, xii, 20

as unintended consequence of public charity, xxi

decentralization, xxviii–xxix, 58n19. See also government; local governance and action

democracies

dangers of individualism in, 59n35, 61n20

decentralization needed in, xxviii–xxix, 58n19

distinctiveness of Tocqueville’s analysis of, xi–xii

dynamic economy in, xvi–xvii

generating feelings of weakness and isolation, xxix, xxxi

as inevitable future, xii

perpetual change and innovation in, 58n8

psychology of equality in, xvii–xviii

role of local governance to, xxii, xxviii–xxix, 58n19, 59n2

role of voluntary associations in, xii, xxiv–xxv, xxviii–xxix, 36, 59n2, 61n21

soft despotism in, xxix, xxx–xxxi, 58n8

tendencies toward centralization in, xxix

Democracy in America (Tocqueville)

continuities with Memoir on Pauperism, xii

contrasting egoism with individualism, 58n12, 61n20

on democratic soul characteristics, 61n17

on economic dynamism, xvi–xvii, 59n26

ending warning of dangers, xxxii

on equality, xv, xvii

impact of Penitentiary Report on, xii

on importance of voluntary associations, xii, xxxiii, 58n19

on local action and governance, xii, 58n19

on local political participation countering individualism, xxxii–xxxiii

psychology in, xii

relation between laws and mores in, 58n18

rights praised in, xix

on role of mores in preserving liberty, 60n8

on soft despotism, xxix

Tocqueville remembered for, xi

on voluntary associations-government relationship, xxix

desires

during feudalism, 6–7

impact of industrialism on, 8–9

psychology of, xvii–xviii, 10–11

in stages of societal development, 3–7

turning into needs, xv–xviii, 7–11

despotism. See soft despotism

Discourse on the Origin of Inequality (Rousseau), xv

Drescher, Seymour, xxix

Dupin, Charles, 41, 62n11

economy

dangers of centralization in, 39–40

dynamism of, xvi–xvii, 59n26

static views of, xvi–xvii

uncertainties in modern, xxvii

education, xxv, xxxi, 26, 58n25

egoism, 58n12, 61n20

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